The Gem of Darkness
by Cutiekyoto3
Summary: Rouge receives a mission from the president to retrieve a special gem , The Gem Of Darkness. If left in the wrong hands this gem could bring utter chaos to the planet. Unfortunately, a shady character is after this gem. Full summary inside!
1. Chapter 1

This is really like a prologue rather than a chapter.  
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Rouge the Bat, the famous treasure huntress, one day receives a mission from the president to go to a far off place called the Palace of Shadows to retrieve a gem. This is not just an ordinary gem. If left in the wrong hands this gem has the power to bring destruction to the world. While searching for this gem Rouge encounters a tribe of mobians, whose knowledge of this gem will come in handy for her. Unfortunately, another person is also searching for this gem, for reasons that may threaten the world. Rouge must race to the gem before the person with evil intentions gets to it. Will she make it to it in time or will darkness befall the world? Only one way to find out! Read!

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I'm excepting criticism and suggestions on how I can improve my writers skills, but please don't be to harsh! 


	2. Chapter 2

Yes! I've finally got my first chapter to my second story up! A special shoutout goes to Shadrougeforever for agreeing to help me with my fan character. Luv ya, GIRL! Now on with the story!

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"...And that is why you are going to--huh? Hey, Agent Rouge! Rouge!"

"...Wha?"

"Were you even paying attention to me?"

Rouge the Bat had left home at 2:00 a.m. just to meet the president in his office for another assignment. It seems she had fallen asleep right in his office.

"Um, sorry. I guess I sort of dozed off there. Um. What was it that you were saying?", Rouge asked while struggling to keep her eyes open. The president sighed and continued.

"As you already know I have called you here at an early time for a very important mission. I need you to go to a far off place to get a gem for m-- A GEM!?", Rouge cut him off.

That's what you called me over here for at 2:00 in the morning?! A measly little gem?!?" The president still sat with his head propped up on his hand on his desk and his legs crossed in his big chair, but did look just a little surprised at her sudden outburst. He almost expected her to react like that.

"Calm down, Agent Rouge." You'll scare the whole building.", The President wispered. " I don't care! You interrupted valueable sleeping time! I-- Sit down, agent, and let me finish", The president ordered. Rouge hesitated at first, but did what she was told. The president continued on. "Now, as I was trying to say before, I need you to go to a special place called The Palace of Shadows to fetch a gem for me. This gem is not an ordinary gem. If left in the wrong hands it could bring destruction to this planet." The president paused and walked towards his giant window in the back of the room.

"So what's the problem? As long as it stays there nothing should happen, right?" , the now calm Rouge asked.

"On the contrary, my dear batgirl. We have been checking up on this gem regularly, and it seems as though someone is after it. We can't take any chances, and that is where you come in." He paused to look at her and then turned back to the window. "At exactly 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning you will catch one of our private planes to a faraway island. On that island is The Palace of Shadows. You'll need to find the path on the island that leads to the palace. The palace may be difficult to find, seeing how it's hidden behind trees and other things."

Rouge was about to protest, but the president continued on. "However, there does seem to be others on that island who could quite possibly have knowledge of the palace. I would reccommend you find them before searching for the palace. Understood?"

Perfectly, Mr. president, but what about my reward?", Rouge reminded.

"Ah,yes! How could I forget about the reward?", the president said while sitting back down in his chair. "Hmmmm. Will seven pounds do the trick this time?"

'Wow. Seven pounds!', Rouge thought. "Mr. president, you've got yourself a deal!"

Rouge got up from her chair and started to walk towards the door when the president stopped her.

"And Rouge, one more thing."

Rouge turned to look at him.

"Watch yourself out there. Don't get hurt", He said as he leaned back in his chair comfortably.

"Hm. Surely you know me better than that, Mr. president", A smirking Rouge replied. "I'll have this mission done in no time. Now, since I have untill tomorrow to start the mission I'll be heading back to my place to get ready and catch back up on my sleep. Bye, hun!" And with that Rouge reached for the door, turned the knob, and walked out. The president, not willing to take any chances, looked at the speaker on his desk.

"Just in case, I'm going to send backup". The president declared as he pressed the button below the speaker.  
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Club Rouge 3:55 A.M.

Rouge had just gotten back from the president's office and was now heading up to her room to go to bed untill she spotted Shadow lying on the couch. He had his hand on his chest, sleeping soundly, and Rouge immediately envied him. They had been living together for a while now and had grown very close to each other.

Taking one last look at Shadow's sleeping form, Rouge headed up the stairs and into her bedroom.

"I'm finally back", Rouge said, immediately heading for her hunting equipment to gather everything up before she went back to sleep. Rouge's room was a site to behold. Her walls were a vivid and lively color of purple and all of the furniture in the room were twice the size of what they needed to be. Not to mention she had an almost king-sized bed, but not quite, and rather revealing pictures of herself on the wall.

As soon as Rouge gathered all of her equipement for the next morning, she discarded her clothes, slipped into one of her silkiest night gowns, set her alarm clock, and hopped into her bed. Almost as soon as she fell onto her bed, sleep overcame her.

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Yay! Finally finished with the first chapter! Sorry it was so short! I'll try to make future chapters much longer than this. Well, R&R! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Well, here it is! The next chapter. Enjoy!**

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The next day, Rouge had just come from the president's office and was now heading for the private jet. (If I said private plane in the last chapter it was a mistake. Sorry!) down by the ocean. Apparently, he wanted her to search for another gun agent on the island. This agent had gone to the island sometime before to keep an eye on the gem. Someway or another, he had found out about the person after the gem and contacted the president. Rouge wondered why the president didn't tell her this when she was at his office yesterday morning, but shrugged it off. He probably needed time to contact the person and tell him to watch for a female albino bat.

When Rouge reached the jet she found a group of gun souldiers waiting in front of it. They stepped out of the way as she began to ascend into the jet and closed the door behind her.

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**Inside Jet, 8:25 A.M.**

As soon as Rouge set foot into the jet she immediately set down the bag filled with her hunting equipment and started to look around the room. The jet was very small and only contained two rooms, the pilot's room and the passenger's room. The passenger's room contained only one row of seats on both sides of the jet and a window in both rows. After Rouge put her equipment bag in the holder her eyes scrolled over to a familiar figure in the seat next to the windows on the other side of the jet and she immediately recognized the person.

"Shadow?", Rouge asked sitting down next to him. Shadow looked over to her.

"I was wondering when you were going to get here", Shadow said with a small smirk on his face.

"Why are you here?"

"The president requested that I help you with this mission."

"Oh really? Well, good. I wasn't to full on going all the way to this far away island all by myself. So, when does the jet take off, anyway?"

"In about five minutes, why?"

"Oh, no reason." Since there was still a good amount of time left Rouge decided to strike up a possible once in a life time conversation with the dark hedgehog. It would help pass the time away.

"So, I've been noticing you and Sonic interact more together. Have you two finally settled things and became friends?", Rouge teased.

Shadow frowned. "Hmph. It's that blue hedgehog who's always starting conversations with me. He and his annoying jokes still continue to be a thorn in my side."

Mm hm, sure."

"Hmph. Beleive what you like...", Shadow told her as he turned his head to look out the window. Rouge half-smiled and nudged Shadow playfully.

"Oh, come on, Shadow! Don't be so serious all the time! Sheesh! Lighten up a little!"

"Hmph.", Was his reply.

Rouge sighed and leaned back in her chair. 'Always so serious! Hmmm...', Rouge thought about something as she looked over to Shadow.

"It was very kind of you to accompany me on this mission, Shadow. I really do appreciate it."

"I believe even if the president hadn't contacted me I still would have accompanied you to this place", Shadow admitted.

"Oh? And why is that?", Rouge flirted whislt leaning in closer to Shadow, which caused him to blush slightly and turned away.

"Well, I...I could not allow you to go to such a place alone. It could most likely be filled with perils."

"Oh reeeeeallly now." Rouge was about an inch away from his face now, which made Shadow feel very uncomfortable. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head towards the window, trying to avoid eye contact. Something about her made him feel sort of nervous. Perhaps it was her gorgeous aqua eyes or those alluring lips that smiled back at him. Teasing him. Whatever it was he was not sure of and was brought out of thought by the pilot's booming voice over the speaker.

"Attention, Agents Rouge and Shadow. The jet is now ready for takeoff. I suggest you both buckle up, as the ride might get rather hectic. Silently thanking the pilot for his timing, Shadow did as told along with Rouge.

Hectic was an understatement. For the next half hour the jet went through a series of sharp twists and turns and shook because of all of the bad turbulence. Several times during the ride Rouge felt as if her stomach may give way any minute and leaned on Shadow's shoulder for comfort. To her relief the jet finally reached the island. Once the pilot made sure they were in a safe clearing he slowly let the jet descend. After the jet reached ground Shadow and Rouge descended out of the jet and looked around. It appeared they were in front of a rather large looking forest.

"Hmmm. I thought the president said there are people on this island.", Rouge stated and looked over at the pilot, whom was standing in the doorway, along with Shadow.

"There probably are natives around here. Just not in the forest. You two will need to talk to them first and see if they know the way to the palace. Whatever you do, don't get killed."

Shadow and Rouge nodded to the pilot and he stepped back into the jet and took off, completely dissapearing into the clouds. Afterwards, Shadow and Rouge started down the forest's path, completely unaware of the figure in the shadows, whom had been watching there every move.

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**Yes! Finally finished with the third chapter! Took a while to type up. I'll try and get to the next chapter as soon as possible. Untill then, please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's the next chappie! Enjoy!**

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"Ah, man! I knew we shouldn't have taken this path!"

It hadn't been 10 minutes before they had gotten lost in the large forest. The path that they'd been following split into 3 different paths not after they started this journey.

"We should've taken the left path instead of this one!", Rouge exclaimed while looking down at her compass. "The compass won't even be of use to us. For some reason it's going haywire." Growing frustrated, Rouge tossed the device over her shoulder and onto the ground.

"What's this? A dead end?! Oh, that's just great!"

Apparently, she was letting the heat get to her. Shadow turned around and started to walk back.

"Hm? Where are you going?

"We need to turn around and find the right path."

"Why? Can't we just cut through the forest?"

"If we did that then we'd almost surely become lost. Plus we don't know what's lurking around here. It's best if we just turn back. So unless you want to be stuck here I'd suggest you come on."

Rouge just stared at him at first, but then looked back at the forest. The thought crossed her mind to fly over it, but then how would Shadow get out? He'd still be stuck here, wouldn't he. Not liking the idea of having to travel back up that long, tiring path Rouge ran to catch up to Shadow.

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"This forest is like a maze! We're back where we started!", exlaimed a dismayed Rouge.

It seems as though they had been looping around the forest for quite some time now. The two other paths that they had not chosen earlier split into more long and tiring ones, and the ones after those. It would be almost impossible for a person to get through the forest if they did not know the forest.

" This is crazy! We've been going down the same old paths for far to long! There doesn't seem to be an end to i- Fwoom!

"Look out!

"Huh?! Aaaah!", Screamed Rouge as Shadow pushed her out of the way of a stray arrow. Both Shadow and Rouge got up of the ground and looked around for the attacker and spotted figures a short distance away from them.

There were about 17 anthropomorphic creatures in the distance; all looked to be burly-looking butterflies. From the looks of it they did not look happy to have visitors. The burliest one of all, which was the one in front, lowered his bow and arrow, and Shadow immediately recognized him to be the shooter of the arrow.

"Please tell me these arn't the people we've been looking for", Rouge said, but had no time to ponder on it any longer, as more of the anthro butterflies came from the earlier mentioned paths. The almost completely surrounded them, safe for one path. Withought warning they started hurling arrows at them; each one came dangerously close, but didn't quite hit its target. Pointing to the dead end path, Shadow shouted to Rouge, "Quick! This way!", and they took off running.

As they ran down the path they had to constantly avoid all the arrows that were coming their way, whislt looking for some kind of path that they just might have missed before. Having no luck, they continued on untill they were almost at the dead end.

"Shadow, let's- Fwoom!

A sudden excrutiating pain rippled through Rouge's body as she fell to the ground; hurt. After struggling to sit up, Rouge tried to see waht happened, but almost ended up falling, had it not been for Shadow holding her up. He searched Rouge's body to see why she had fallen, and spotted an arrow impaled threw her right foot. It had created a wound that overflowed with blood. A sudden fire burned its way through Shadow's body as he carefully placed Rouge on the ground,and faced her attackers. The burly butterfly in the middle got up from his crouched position on the ground, and lowered his bow and arrow.

'He must have shot it!', Shadow thought as his eyes grew redder than they usually were; a devilish red, which meant...

"Chaos...BLAST!"

A sudden wave of powerful red energy rippled its way through Shadow's body; striking almost every one of the strangers in the vicinity, and killing them instantly. The few who did survive were greatly wounded and injured.

"Hmph."

Shadow turned back to Rouge, whom was struggling to sit up, and picked her up bridal style, but then stopped. Shadow looked over to the dismembered bodies and noticed that one of them had somehow survived, although he looked to be greatly wounded. Once he set eyes on the two of them he immediately searched for an undamaged bow and arrow.

Almost desperately searching for a way out Shadow was about to run into the forest, but was stopped by a faint voice coming from the bushes. Someone...was calling out to him!

"Pssst. Come this way! Quick!", The voice of the person whispered, and made a hole in the bushes in an attempt to lead him into it. Having no other choice, Shadow carefully, but swiftly, went through the bushes just before an arrow came his way.

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-Cutiekyoto3


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